stay
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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to spend some time in a place, in a situation, with a person or group, etc..
He stayed in the army for ten years.
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to continue to be as specified, as to condition or state.
to stay clean.
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to hold out or endure, as in a contest or task (followed by with orat ).
Please stay with the project as long as you can.
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to keep up, as with a competitor (followed bywith ).
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Poker. to continue in a hand by matching an ante, bet, or raise.
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to stop or halt.
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to pause or wait, as for a moment, before proceeding or continuing; linger or tarry.
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Archaic. to cease or desist.
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Archaic. to stand firm.
verb (used with object)
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to stop or halt.
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to hold back, detain, or restrain, as from going further.
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to suspend or delay (actions, proceedings, etc.).
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to appease or satisfy temporarily the cravings of (the stomach, appetite, etc.).
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to remain through or during (a period of time).
We stayed two days in San Francisco.
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to remain to the end of; remain beyond (usually followed byout ).
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Archaic. to await.
noun
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the act of stopping or being stopped.
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a stop, halt, or pause; a standstill.
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a sojourn or temporary residence.
a week's stay in Miami.
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Law. a stoppage or arrest of action; suspension of a judicial proceeding.
The governor granted a stay of execution.
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Informal. staying power; endurance.
idioms
noun
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a flat strip of steel, plastic, etc., used especially for stiffening corsets, collars, etc.
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a long rod running between opposite walls, heads or sides of a furnace, boiler, tank, or the like, to strengthen them against internal pressures.
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Chiefly British. stays, a corset.
verb (used with object)
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to support, prop, or hold up (sometimes followed byup ).
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to sustain or strengthen mentally or spiritually.
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to rest on (something, as a foundation or base) for support.
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to cause something to become fixed or to rest on (a support, foundation, base, etc.)
noun
verb (used with object)
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to support or secure with a stay or stays.
to stay a mast.
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to put (a ship) on the other tack.
verb (used without object)
idioms
verb
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(intr) to continue or remain in a certain place, position, etc
to stay outside
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(copula) to continue to be; remain
to stay awake
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to reside temporarily, esp as a guest
to stay at a hotel
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(tr) to remain for a specified period
to stay the weekend
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(intr) to reside permanently or habitually; live
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archaic to stop or cause to stop
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(intr) to wait, pause, or tarry
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(tr) to delay or hinder
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(tr)
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to discontinue or suspend (a judicial proceeding)
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to hold in abeyance or restrain from enforcing (an order, decree, etc)
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to endure (something testing or difficult, such as a race)
a horse that stays the course
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to keep pace (with a competitor in a race, etc)
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(intr) poker to raise one's stakes enough to stay in a round
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(tr) to hold back or restrain
to stay one's anger
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(tr) to satisfy or appease (an appetite, etc) temporarily
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archaic (tr) to quell or suppress
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archaic (intr) to stand firm
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See put
noun
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the act of staying or sojourning in a place or the period during which one stays
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the act of stopping or restraining or state of being stopped, etc
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the suspension of a judicial proceeding, etc
stay of execution
noun
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anything that supports or steadies, such as a prop or buttress
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a thin strip of metal, plastic, bone, etc, used to stiffen corsets, etc
verb
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(often foll by up) to prop or hold
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(often foll by up) to comfort or sustain
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to cause to rely or depend
noun
Etymology
Origin of stay1
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English staien, from Anglo-French estaier, Old French ester, from Latin stāre “to stand, stand up, be standing, stand in attendance”; see origin at stand
Origin of stay2
First recorded in 1505–15; apparently same as stay 3 (compare Old French estayer “to hold in place, support”), or perhaps derivative of Middle English steye “rope to steady a mast”; stay 3
Origin of stay3
First recorded before 1150; Middle English stai, stey(e), Old English stæg; cognate with German Stag, Dutch stag, Old Norse stag
Explanation
To stay is to remain or wait in the same place. When you tell your dog to stay, you expect her to keep sitting until you call her over. You can stay in the short term, like when you stay in your seat even though you're antsy, or in the long term, like when you decide to stay in Missouri after you graduate from college. You can also stay calm or stay out of trouble. Legally, to stay is to delay or suspend proceedings, like when a judge stays a decision. A less-common meaning of stay is "a support," from the Middle French estaie, "wood used as a support."
Vocabulary lists containing stay
"The Flea" by John Donne
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Academic Vocabulary and Vocabulary from Readings 1, Unit 3
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United States v. Nixon (1974), List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
By the end of my stay, I felt sharper and more empowered to deal with stress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Those gains have followed deeper investments in frozen foods to stay competitive.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
People are advised to remain hydrated, avoid the sun, stay in an air-conditioned room and check on loved ones.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
"While it's still mainly driven by energy prices, broader inflationary pressures are mounting as energy prices are expected to stay elevated."
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
When we make it to my locker, whatever will I had to stay upright is gone.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
They’ve become unusually popular in a staid sector, though.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
It would be hard to find a more L.A. scene than the one playing out downtown in the normally staid Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez United States Courthouse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
From the moment Gavriel steps inside the narrator’s top-tier Jerusalem high school, he casts a shadow on the staid older faculty members.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Preparations for the event have been conducted in the utmost secrecy, with top reporters from the usually staid New York Times forced to sleuth through local hotels for hints of the guest list.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
RON enters on a staircase, his side parting now super-aggressive, his robes just a little bit too short, his clothes now spectacularly staid.
From "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by J.K. Rowling
All but Edouard stayed out in the open waters of the Atlantic.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
They talked pitching too, of course, and stayed in touch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
One group stayed on its usual diet for four weeks, while the other switched to a diet low in ultra-processed foods.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
This data combines both the results from patients who stayed in the trial as well as the anticipated results of those that dropped out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Even though he took every single lunch in the library, he stayed on his side, and I stayed on mine.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Be sure you’re attending networking events, staying in touch with old bosses and colleagues, and keeping your resume up to date.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Pearson said hotels "should never ever confirm whether or not a guest is staying at the hotel or not".
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
The mix of experience is helping him strike a balance between staying “scrappy” while also building out scalable systems and processes to support Dutch Bros’s growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
An Ipsos poll last week found 70% back staying in Canada.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Mama wasn’t very happy about staying in the big city.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
